After losing custody of her daughter, who is adopted by a white American couple, Chinese national Tse pays a people smuggler known as a 'Snakehead' to bring her to New York. The deal is that she will work as a prostitute to pay off her debt, but Tse gambles on carving out another role within her employer's criminal enterprise. That will require doing some dangerous and unpleasant things, but it means more money, and more chance to find her daughter. Tse's willing to take any risk for that.
But even if her high risk strategy is successful, it will only expose Tse to further dangers: more difficult assignments, rivalries with others in her own organisation, and potentially the attention of the authorities. Can she find a way to secure both her own future and that of her daughter?
Snakehead is a labour of love by Evan Jackson Leong, who worked on the project for over a decade and ultimately edited, produced, wrote and directed the movie. I first became aware of it in 2016, when I backed a kickstarter to raise funds for filming.
Five years later, the movie has finally been released, which I imagine must feel like a huge personal triumph for Leong. Even better, it's a movie I think he can feel justly proud of. This is not to say it is flawless, by any means. The (brief) action sequences are modest and not very dynamic, for one thing. The use of narration is inconsistent, too: sometimes a bit intrusive, sometimes absent when it might have helped. But overall, Snakehead is an engaging drama about what we may be willing to do, and to sacrifice, to secure the life and happiness of the ones we love.
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